Improvement in roller-skates



w. P.Y mmm. Roller Skates.

10,138,018. 4 PatentedAprl22J873.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.'

WASHINGTON PARKER GREGG, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN ROLLER-SKATES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 138,013, dated April 22, 1873; application led October 21, 1869.V

' tions of a sphere, and in a novel arrangement of the middle wheels of the four relatively to the stock.

Of the accompanying drawing, Figure l is a side elevation, and Fig. 2 a bottom view ot' one variety of my improved roller-skate. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, and Fig. 4 an under side view, of another variety ofthe skate. Fig. 5 is a transverse section of a skate made with the journals oi'its side-wheels raised above the stock.

In the drawing, A denotes the stock or footvrest; B,the toe-wheel; C,the heel-wheel; and

D and E, the two middle wheels. The two middle wheels are to be applied to the stock so a-s to be capable of revolving' independently of one another. Each of the wheels shown in the figures is a portion of a sphere; or, in other words, has a globular periphery. In Fig.

2 themiddle wheels are supported by, and so as to be capable of separately revolving, on a common axle, a, they being kept apart by a shoulder piece, b, arranged between them on the axle; and they are arranged beneath the stock to make the skate more compact, light, and comely for in-door use. In Figs. 3 and 4 the journals of the two side wheels are shown as projected from the opposite edges of the stock. In Fig. 5 the journals e c of the side wheels are shown as arranged above the stock so as to project from ears f f extended upward from the stock; this latter arrangement of the journals being to enable the stock to be brought nearer to the ground, and wheels of larger diameter to be used than could well be employed were the journals disposed Arelativev ly to the stock in manner as shown in Figs. 1,

2, 3, and 4. I prefer to have al1 the wheels provided with globular perpheries, because of their peculiar qualities, and the greater facilities they afford to the skater for turning about and moving in curves, and for assuming inclined positions without injuriously` straining the ankles or joints. The journals of the wheels may be applied so as to be adjustable at different distances from the stock. Fig. 6 is a side elevation, and Fig. 7 a transverse section, of a duplex parlor-skate embodying my invention.

In this skate there are two arrangements for middle wheels. An axle-supporter, a', extends both above and below thestoek A, at each of its opposite edges. One journal, bf, projects externally from the upper part of it. Another journal, c', extends inwardly from the lower part of it. These journals may be xed in the part c so as to be easily removable from it, as occasion may require. The lower journals are to support a set of small wheels, the upper journals being to support a larger set of wheels, either set being employed at the option of the skater.

In thus arranging the journals both above and below the stock the skater, at his pleasure, can, by taking oil' the small wheels and their journals, use the larger side wheels, and by removing the latter and their journals he can restore and use the smaller wheelswith their journals. The xtures for the support of the upper journals also serve to protect the foot from sliding sidewise on the stock. y

I claim- 1. Iuroller-skates having four wheels, arranging the journals of the two large side wheels above the stock, substantially as shown `in Fig. 5, for the purpose described.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a convertible skate, which can be used either with or without the large side wheels D E, Figs. 6 and 7, at the option of the wearer, becoming, when said wheels aredispensed with, the fourwheeled skate represented in Figs. 1 and 2, and when they are applied the skate represented in Figs. 6 and 7.

WASHINGTON PARKER GfK-EGG.

Witnesses W. F. STORY, M. MELLEN, Jr. 

